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Scientologists lose tax-exempt status
Date: Monday, 30 September 1968
Publisher: AMA News
Main source: link (82 KiB)

The Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C. (The AMA News, Sept. 2, 1968 ) has lost its tax-exempt status because a federal court says its activities were too commercial.

Donald E. Lane, trial commissioner of the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, ruled that the church received substantial income from its "processing and auditing" services, and that the value of these services was over and above the organization's religious and spiritual aspects.

Government officials have indicated the decision would signal the end of the tax-exempt status which has been granted to various alleged "personality development" centers for Scientology across the country.

Refund Sought: The federal claims court ruling resulted from a suit filed by the Founding Church of Scientology seeking a tax refund for 1956.

A review by the full claims court is scheduled, with arguments expected in 1969.

Commissioner Lane's opinion rejected the tax-exempt arguments of the organization, noting that the Founding Church was organized in 1955 and incorporated "to act as a parent church for the propagation of a religious faith known as 'Scientology,' and to act as a church for the religious worship of faith."

Spirit Immortal: Lane added that Scientologists "believe that the spirit is immortal and that it receives a new body upon the death of the body in which it resides. They also believe that in the course of various lives the spirit is inhibited by 'detrimental aberrations' or 'engrams' which result from misdeeds or unpleasant experiences."

The commissioner explained that the objective of Scientology is to counteract this burden through processing, also called auditing. He said the goal of Scientology "is for the individual to advance through various levels of accomplishment leading to the state of 'clear,' and ultimately to become an 'operating thetan' ( spirit )."

The report states that founder L. Ron Hubbard was paid a salary of $125 a week and an additional fee of $125 a week, plus 10% of the gross income of the "church."

"Persons coming to plaintiff (the Founding Church) for processing were usually required to sign a contract for a stated amount of processing," the commissioner said. "The normal contract covered 25 hours of processing at a rate of $20 per hour."

6% Interest: He said when a person was unable to pay cash, the center often would have the individual sign a note bearing 6% annual interest plus 25% service charge.

There was advertising under "Personality Development" and "Personnel Consultants" in the yellow pages of telephone directories, the opinion said, in addition to newspaper advertisements.

The Hubbard E-Meter, described by Lane as essential to the practice of Scientology, costs $12.50 to manufacture, but the selling price was $125 to $144, the opinion said. Lane said every auditor was expected to acquire the meter.

A federal court jury ruled in 1967 that the meter was a misbranded medical device, and a federal judge ordered destruction of the devices.

A U.S. Treasury Dept. spokesman said the legal action in the Washington claims court was the first U.S. litigation from a tax standpoint involving Scientology.

California previously had permitted a tax exempt status to Scientologists in that state, but this has been revoked.

Charges against sect security guard dropped
Date: Sunday, 30 September 1984
Publisher: Clearwater Sun (Florida)
Main source: link (43 KiB)

The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office has dropped a charge of false imprisonment pressed in August against a security guard for the Church of Scientology, officials said.

Roy Rodriguez was arrested Aug. 23 after he and two other sect guards chased 21-year-old John Williams of Clearwater on foot through downtown Clearwater, police said. The guard accused the man of throwing a rock through the window of the sect communications office at 500 Cleveland St., police said.

Four sect guards were in the communications office when the rock came through the window around 9 p.m., police said, and when they ran outside, Williams was walking about a half-block away from the building.

Rodriguez tackled Williams behind the Pierce 100 condominiums and handcuffed him, police said. Williams denied throwing the rock, police said, and Rodriguez was arrested and charged.

The charge was dropped Sept. 19 due to insufficient information, according to a report from the State Attorney's Office, police said. The report stated that although Rodriguez did not have probable cause to make a citizen's arrest, the state would drop the charge because Williams lied to investigating officers and investigators from the State Attorney's Office, police said.

Williams was charged Sept. 17 with throwing a deadly missile into an occupied dwelling.

Church building archive depository
Date: Tuesday, 30 September 1986
Publisher: Las Vegas Daily Optic
Author: Helen Muller
Main source: groups.google.com 

A 300-foot horizontal tunnel is being drilled into a mountain east of Las Vegas to house church documents. The Los Angeles-based Church of Spiritual Technology, which is affiliated with the Church of Scientology, has been working on the project for two years.

On a remote, 3,600 acre ranch near Trementina, 14-17 men are preparing the site for a tunneling machine, said CST ranch manager Russ Bellin. Although about a dozen of the workers have been hired locally, the construction is under the direction of a Denver contractor.

Bellin said the Church of Spiritual Technology was founded in 1982 and acquired a year later. "We were looking for a place that is remote, pollution free, some distances from any nuclear targets, and with a dry climate," he said. "We researched a number of places before we found this one."

Goals of the CST include "construction and maintenance of an imperishable structure, capable of withstanding the ravages of nuclear warfare to house the essence of Scientology for the benefit of future generations," state its bylaws.

The Church of Scientology claims six million members and 600 churches in more than 30 countries.

The tunnel will be approximately 14 feet high by 10 feet wide, said Bellin. "In the tunneling business, this is considered a small project." The sandstone tunnel, which is halfway up a mountain, will be ventilated and lined with concrete. "This should keep the documents (mostly paper) at a constant 63 degrees with low humidity — perfect for the preservation of paper," he noted.

Bellin said the project is patterned after a huge vault tunnelled in granite in Utah by the Mormons to preserve the church's geneology lists and microfilm. "This will not be open as a working library," he added, "nor will it be sealed." Periodically we will add documents to the collection.

He praised their neighbors in the area for letting the project continue with privacy, yet helping when needed. "We've had a lot of trouble with our roads this summer because of all the rain. The other day, one of our trucks got stuck in a muddy arroyo and some neighbors helped pull it out."

Most of their supplies have been purchased in Las Vegas, such as fuel for their generator, groceries, and construction supplies, he said.

The church currently has no plans for further development of the property. When the construction is finished, two people will live at the ranch to take care of it. "There are no plans to build a church on the property," said Bellin.

The office of Secretary of State of California said the Church of Spiritual Technology was registered as a non-profit corporation in May 1982, and continues to be in good standing.

An Environmental Improvement Division onsite visit in May found little that EID would appropriately deal with, said environmentalist Anita Roy. "There seemed to be no water course contamination, and there were no hazardous materials on the site," she said.

Work on the site began in Feruary 1985. Although it was discontinued during the winter, it recommenced this spring. Workers have been living in tents on the ranch. As the cold weather approaches, several small trailers have been added. "Building roads has consumed a lot of our efforts," said Bellin.

Because of the heavy equipment being used, air emergency evacuation arrangements have been made with the University of New Mexico hospital in Albuquerque, which can be reached in 35 minutes. Four pigs roam freely to discourage rattlesnakes. "We have seen at least 50 rattlers this year," said Bellin, "but with the cooler weather, they have not been as prevalent."

Talk show [Heber Jentzsch going nuts]

Man wins $5 million in deprogramming suit
Mother had tried to wrest son away from Bellevue church

Medical examiner leaves office

For the disadvantaged and against Scientology

What really happened with the L. Ron Hubbard biography by Omar Garrison
Date: Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Publisher:
Author: Lawrence H. "Larry" Brennan
Main source: groups.google.com

As many people know, Omar Garrison was working on a biography of L. Ron Hubbard back in the early 1980s that was completely sanctioned by Hubbard and by organized scientology.

In fact Gerry Armstrong was actually assigned to and working with Omar back then with the approval of both Hubbard and organized scientology. And, Gerry was part of that Mission Corporate Category Sortout (MCCS) mission that was run by [David Miscavige] with Gerry’s primary part of it being to assist Omar with his research so that the biography could be written.

I remember going to Los Angeles from the Guardian’s Office World Wide in England and meeting Gerry when he was on that mission. Gerry showed me around, including showing me the twenty-some sets of file cabinets that included Hubbard’s own files to be used in writing the biography. I remember talking with Gerry then and coming away with the knowledge that he was really into this, was a really good guy, was very knowledgeable and really wanted to get the biography written.

Well there is a great deal of published information of what happened next after Gerry found out how false Hubbard’s claims about himself were and how false statements from organized scientology about Hubbard’s “accomplishments” were. Needless to say Gerry was abused when he pointed this out and had to flee for his own safety. Decades of litigation, harassment and other abuses by organized scientology against Gerry have still not stopped Gerry from speaking out the truth and doing the best he can to defend himself and loved ones.

But outside of two postings I have done on XSO and enturbulation.org previously and some small mentions I have included in another post and in my affidavit, I have never seen anything written covering what actually happened with the biography Omar was writing on Hubbard. As XSO is not a public forum and as enturbulation is down for the moment, I thought I would again put this on the record, this time with some more details.

Omar actually completed the biography and wanted to have it published or at least be paid for same. The title was “L. Ron Hubbard — His Life, His Loves and His Letters”.

In late 82/1983 a meeting was held with Hubbard’s representatives from “Author Services” and Omar about the finished book and it was a disaster with Miscavige blowing up and Omar refusing to deal with him.

Suddenly Miscavige and those who did his bidding at Author Services were confronted with the fact that Miscavige and his people totally blew the meeting with Omar and it was very possible that Omar would go elsewhere to get the book published. The main trouble with that for Miscavige was that the book was truthful and a complete embarrassment to both Hubbard and organized scientology.

One thing Miscavige knew at that point is that his abusive style of dealing with others was not going to work here and he suddenly needed someone without an abusive nature to negotiate with Omar and get the rights to the book from Omar.

I and [Robert Vaughn Young] were picked for this task. A meeting was quickly set up for this negotiation between Omar and his attorney on Omar’s side and myself, Vaughn and three of Hubbard’s top attorneys on “our” side. The attorneys were Sherman Lenske his brother Steve Lenske and Barry Litt. The meeting was held at the Lenskes’ law office.

The entire day was set aside for this negation by all parties.

I remember how seriously Author Services was taking this as it was about to become a huge flap for them because of Miscavige’s inability to deal with people in a sane fashion when things were contentious.

The three attorneys, Vaughn and I got together early for the meeting to go over last minute preparations. I had spent most of the previous day getting briefed on their failed meeting, what we would be willing to pay and “drilling” with my junior in Special Unit Heber Jentzsch to prepare for my talking with Omar.

Barry Litt was advising me to stay calm if Omar started insulting us or Hubbard or organized scientology in general as it did come up in the meeting with Author Services causing them to blow up and lose any chance of getting the book rights from Omar. I told Barry not to worry as things like that did not affect me, that I didn’t “hate” Omar and that I just wanted this done successfully. I told him in a joking fashion that he would lose his cool well before I ever would so he should just watch out for himself and not me. I mentioned this as we were tested on this very point in the meeting which I thought was funny and which I will cover later.

Omar and his attorney showed up and we began the meeting in the morning. It went all morning, through a big lunch and most of the afternoon. Bottom line is that it got very hostile between the attorneys from both sides. Omar then started getting very critical of Hubbard and scientology and said words to the effect that all scientologists were brainwashed with present company (Vaughn and I) excepted. I thought that was funny actually. Omar was pretty smooth.

Then Omar dropped “the bomb”. He said that Hubbard and organized scientology were criminals, they abused the courts and had even paid off judges. He used as an example the then recent probate case that Hubbard ended up winning against his son Nibbs. Omar said that Hubbard’s legal representatives in that case were incompetent and should have lost the case due to their incompetence. He said that the only reason that they did not lose the case was that the judge was paid off.

The whole time Omar was talking about this case I was biting my lip trying not to laugh. That was because Barry Litt, the attorney on my right, was the main attorney arguing that case for Hubbard. Sure enough Barry jumps up and shouts to Omar “Now wait a minute” and starts to say how wrong Omar was. I had to kick Barry’s leg hard under the table to get him to sit down and shut up. I found that funny as Barry had just earlier briefed me how I had to keep my cool and it was he that blew up just as I had joked he would.

I took this as the right time to call a temporary halt to the meeting and asked Omar to walk with me out of the room. Omar complained bitterly about the attorneys. I told him that I was sure we would work out something fair today and get it all done. We had a very nice and friendly chat alone.

Then we broke for lunch at a really fancy restaurant and I just kept it pleasant. I had Omar pick the wine for us as he was a self proclaimed wine expert (I know Sea Org at lunch with wine — go figure!!!).

Anyway after lunch we resume the meeting at the Lenskes’ office and finally get a deal worked out. I got from Omar exclusive publishing rights as well as ownership of the manuscript with what was supposedly the only copy. We signed a contract with Omar that day and I paid him. I forget how much it was but I think it was low six digits.

I then drove to Author Services with the contract and the manuscript and turned it over to Norman Starkey for Miscavige. Again, the title was “L. Ron Hubbard — His Life, His Loves and His Letters”.

The book was killed right there and then never to be seen again.

I now regret that we were successful here as so much truth could have been out about Hubbard some 25 years ago that was suppressed, never to be seen. At the time I actually did not know the great depth of the lies about Hubbard promoted both by him and organized scientology.

I just thought it would be good if this were now in writing publicly.

Larry Brennan - SME

What really happened with the L. Ron Hubbard biography by Omar Garrison